So do you prefer your favourite bands to remain steady and reliable,
or demand that they try and win you over with something different
every time? With Insomnium's fourth album, the former are assured of
another cracking album, while the latter should probably look
elsewhere.

_Across the Dark_ does feature a few changes however: a smattering of
guest clean vocals and some more folk and prog elements to add to
their strong melodic death are the easiest to find, albeit not the
only ones. That said, Insomnium have been careful not to take any
serious risks, which essentially demands a number of stand-out tracks
in order to keep the album sufficiently relevant. In that regard,
_Across the Dark_ is a solid but unspectacular album for Insomnium. A
number of tracks are outstanding examples of the band's mastery of
their style, and the rest are never far behind; but the last couple of
albums did leave more of a lasting impression, with riffs and tunes
that stuck with you a little longer.

There is very little to fault about _Across the Dark_ itself, apart
from being unable to top what they have done before; so while it may
not be as fundamental an album as one would like, it still remains a
strong candidate for many a best album of the year list.